Full Curriculum

Gain access to all of our current units plus every new one we add to the curriculum!
Get Now

Subjects Included

Get every unit from every subject and never run out of materials again!

Match Content with Grade-level
Scope & Sequence

Units

E-books

Worksheets

We are constantly creating new units. More to come!

The Ideal Non-fiction Curriculum 

Do your students with an intellectual disability have trouble with reading comprehension and communicating with others? Aside from their disability, the research tells us their biggest issue is lack of background knowledge, which is needed to make sense of all new information. Students with an intellectual disability lack significant knowledge on a myriad of topics, which limits their understanding of reading material, conversations, and movies. It impacts all aspects of their lives. Our curriculum directly addresses this HUGE problem. By using our curriculum, you will change students’ lives. They will learn all sorts of things. They will have a better understanding of the world, better communication skills, and a more meaningful life.

 

Creating research-based curriculum aligned to common core standards is time-consuming and challenging. Our custom-designed lesson plans show you how to use Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) to address the cognitive impairments of students with an intellectual disability. We love creating this material and have spent the last few years designing units using best practices to make this easy for you. We have created books, lesson plans, printable assignments, flashcards, PowerPoint presentations and more. The very best part, is that you will lead your students with disabilities toward developing to their fullest potential.

Accelerating Achievement
Our curriculum is accompanied by the use of Specially Designed Instruction (SDI). Our custom-designed lesson plans address the flexibility required to effectively support students and accelerate student learning.

 

Gap Reduction
Non-fiction curriculum studied at a comprehensible level builds background knowledge. Prior knowledge is needed in order to make sense of reading, discussions, movies, etc. Non-fiction curriculum bridges the gap.

Problem-based learning
Our curriculum utilizes Problem-Based Learning to support the development of complex concepts. This is essential for understanding and generalizing conceptual ideas, which students with disabilities struggle with.

Sign up today and save over 50% at the discounted price of $1,200 $249 per user.

Get Now

Specially Designed Instruction

With this license, you will have immediate access to all of our materials. This includes not only the dozens of units we currently have, but every new unit we design and add to the curriculum. In addition, you receive current events units on a regular basis, which makes this curriculum dynamic. Self-determination and life skills curriculum are embedded in many of the units.

We not only provide the curriculum, but we make sure that you know how to teach it. Our custom-designed lesson plans utilize Specially Designed Instruction to best meet the needs of the students you are working with.

Special Education Teachers
Providing modified curriculum for students on your caseload has never been easier. Because you have access to all units you are able to select the appropriate units for your class to study and units that support students on your caseload in general education classroom settings. The door is wide open!
ELL Teachers
Because of the strong focus on language and content development at a comprehensible level, our curriculum is the IDEAL supplemental material for sheltered language instruction.  It can be used to build prior knowledge for an upcoming unit and/or used in tutoring programs.  (350-650 Lexile)
Speech Therapists
Work on speech and language goals while teaching grade-level content.  In addition to being able to select units on topics that your students are studying, we also have high-interest units on pop stars and other exciting topics. The curriculum also incorporates self-determination topics which are crucial for transitioning and overall independence.
Parents
Whether you are home schooling or supplementing your child’s education, this non-fiction curriculum builds background knowledge on a variety of subjects, and develops speech and language. The curriculum also develops self-determination which is crucial for transitioning and overall independence.

FAQ

What comes with this curriculum?
An e-book, printable book, Main Idea Cards, Summary worksheets at 3 different levels, WH Questions in 3 different levels, and teaching notes to guide conversations.
How would teachers use this program?
Students need a lot of support developing language skills. As a result, taking time to work on this daily can help accelerate learning. Our curriculum can be used at any point during the day.
How can day programs use this curriculum?
This curriculum would be a fantastic way to start the day. It can also be used with groups of various sizes at any point during the day program.
Is this program helpful for speech therapists?
Speech therapists love this program. The content is very engaging and practical. The conversation skills that students are working on need some sort of context that holds their interest. This material is incredibly engaging. Students love it.
How can high school students best use this program?
This is a great way to start the day. It can also be used during the classroom period designated for life skills, work transition, and speech and language time.
What role does building background knowledge play in communication?
Just like when you begin reading something, the level of understanding you are going to have about the reading material is based largely on what you know about the topic already. The same is true for conversational skills. The more background knowledge people have, the higher functioning they are at communicating and understanding everything.
How much time goes into planning these lessons?
Almost none. We have done just about everything for you. If you project the e-book, and have the
How does this develop conversational skills?
Conversational skills need to be practiced, and students need a context to engage in a conversation.
How do you engage students in conversations?
We have created interesting materials that incorporates topics to talk about that meet the learners where they are at in terms of what they already know so we can expand from there. We also give you notes so that you won’t be at a loss for what to say to encourage conversations and you won’t miss an opportunity to bring up a topic you. The heavy lifting has been done. Enjoy!
How are conversation skills developed in this program?
This curriculum incorporates a lot of questions directly in the books and teacher notes are provided for each page to help teach students how to look at something and come up with ways that it can be talked about with others.
What is special about your teacher notes?
Our teacher notes give you ideas for engaging students in the content and conversation. The instructional strategies follow best practices.
What if I am not satisfied?
If you are not satisfied after using our materials for 30 days, we will refund 100% of your money. No questions asked!

Problem Based Learning

  • Consistently building new vocabulary and knowledge
  • Recognizing opportunities to say something
  • Thinking of something to say
  • Understanding the purpose of asking questions is to learn more
  • How to think through what they want to know more about
  • Understanding concepts
  • Understanding what is being asked
  • Answering questions accurately

Who Can Use a License?

 

A license is to be used by one teacher / therapist / parent. 

The materials on this website are made available to individuals for use in classroom or individual instruction. For these purposes only, materials can be downloaded, printed and/or copied by the individual for all of their students or clients. Use by more than one individual will require a license for each person.

We do monitor the number of “hits” associated with each subscription, and excessive use can result in an account suspension.

Sign up today and save over 50% at the discounted price of $1,200 $249 per user.

Get Now

Happy Customers

Here’s what they are saying
My class read “Hurricane Irma,”  “Earthquake in Mexico” and “Take a Knee”.

I was totally blown away by the Austin and Lily “Exceptional News” books.  The format is so different than anything I have seen offered elsewhere.  It is exactly what a self-contained class with intellectually disabled students of all ranges and abilities can actually use.

After watching the tutorial overview, the visual on how to fold the book and reading the teacher notes, I was eager to start.   I liked the teacher’s notes because they aren’t strictly scripted but there are enough ideas to get talking points flowing.

One of my weaknesses as a teacher is that I don’t cover information in a lot of different ways with enough repetition. By following the teaching suggestions, I was able to slow down and stay on one article for the entire week!  The four levels served me well within one class.  I really enjoyed using this with my class.  Most of them had heard about the topics of all three articles.  Reading the books on the smartboard with the pictures really initiated a lot of discussion out of my usually silent class.  When I showed an actual hurricane and earthquake happening on You Tube, all of my students were engaged and talking. Talk about high interest!

It made me feel good and I felt like my students got a lot out the articles. I can see a lot of thought and work went into each article. Most of my day is teaching math and I really looked forward to reading with my students on current events that are wonderfully age appropriate!  Thank you,

Patricia Villescas

Special Education Teacher, Phoenix Union High School

Our Guarantee

When you purchase any materials from Austin & Lily, you’ll also get our promise that you’ll love what we have to offer.

In fact, if you’re not 100% satisfied after 30 days of using our materials, you can contact our support team for a full refund – no questions asked.

But we’re confident that it won’t come to that because by 30 days in, you’ll be on your way to empowering your students to achieve their full learning potential.

Get Started

Get access to our full curriculum for 1 year. Sign up today and save over 50% at the discounted price of $1,200 $249 per user.

Get Now